Refrigerator appliances generally include a cabinet that defines a chilled chamber for receipt of food items for storage. Refrigerator appliances also generally include various combinations of shelves, bins, and drawers positioned within the chilled chamber to assist with storage of food items therein. Certain refrigerator appliances include adjustable shelves that permit an appliance user to adjust the shelves between various configurations. For example, adjustable shelves can permit the appliance user to adjust a height or a length of the shelves.
Certain adjustable shelves include a fixed glass plate and a movable glass plate that can slide below the fixed glass plate. Such adjustable shelves can include brackets that support the glass plates within the chilled chamber. Generally, such brackets are connected to each other with cross-bars that extend between the brackets below the glass plates. Additionally, such brackets typically extend beyond the fixed plate to support the movable plate when the plate is in an extended position.
Adjustable shelves having such brackets and cross-bars have certain drawbacks. For example, cross-bars can consume valuable storage space below the adjustable shelves. Also, cross-bars can be visually unappealing or unattractive. Further, cross-bars can be expensive and add to the overall cost of the refrigerator appliance. Brackets or other extended structures which support the movable plate when in the extended position remain extended past the fixed plate even when the movable plate has been retracted, thus additionally consuming valuable storage space in front of the shelves and limiting the size of items to be stored.
Accordingly, a refrigerator appliance with features for securely and reliably mounting an adjustable shelf within a refrigerator appliance, as well as methods for assembling such shelf, would be useful. In particular, a refrigerator appliance with features for mounting an adjustable shelf within a refrigerator appliance and associated assembly methods that does not require cross-bars and that do not require brackets or other extended structures to support movable plates thereof would be useful.